


An Endless Cycle

by RealityXIllusion



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Kidnapping, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Coffee Addict Five Hargreeves, Dreams and Nightmares, Drugs, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fevers, Five Protection Squad, Five Whump, Five curses a lot, Ghosts, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Hallucinations, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five-Centric, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Number Five, Protective Siblings, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Time Travel Fix-It, Timeline What Timeline, Touch-Starved Number Five, Trust Issues, Underage Drinking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, insane Harold Jenkins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-11-15 13:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18073883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityXIllusion/pseuds/RealityXIllusion
Summary: In the end, Five had failed. He couldn't stop the apocalypse or keep the world from ending, but maybe he could still save his family. Maybe, just maybe they wouldn't have to die.ORBased on the TV show, at the end of Season 1 when Five tries jumping through time with all of his siblings this is what happened next.





	1. On the Road Again

**Author's Note:**

> I just started the Umbrella Academy and finished all of season one in a day, stupid of me since I had work afterward. However, it was worth it to see such an amazing show! I love all of the characters, though a certain one annoyed me with his actions I won't put him on the spot. This story is centered around Number Five but will also delve into the issues of Klaus, Vanya and possibly the others as well. I'm in with this story for the long run. Most chapters will revolve around the episodes but nothing will follow canon. This is my way of making poor Number Five suffer on the way to happiness.

It felt as though every atom in his body was tearing itself apart, over and over again. A heavy feeling closing in on him at all sides, taking his breath away and leaving him gasping for air. He grunted as his body slammed into the ground, the force of impact taking away what little air he managed to force into his lungs. It was just as he shakingly pushed himself to his feet and glanced up that Five realized where he was.

He was at the Academy?

Klaus, Diego, Allison, Luthor and… and Vanya. They were all here, Five stared at them in confusion. How were they all here? He just watched them disappear from him, probably dead, they couldn’t be here, not really. He tried to jump through time with them all but he felt it as one by one their presences each vanished as they lost their grip on him, leaving him the only one to make the jump. This was probably just his mind playing tricks on him, perhaps after all he’s been through, he finally cracked. Was this what the afterlife for him would be? Seeing his siblings look at him as though he were a stranger? A constant reminder of how he failed, how he failed to save any of them?

“Does anyone else see little number Five, or is that just me?”

Five quickly glanced down at his body, the all too familiar baggy clothing of an adult just barely hanging onto his frame. Looking up into the eyes of his siblings, seeing how confused, worried, hopeful, and concerned they all were as they stared back at him. Or, instead of insanity, he had actually gone back in time again.

“Shit.”

Five didn’t hesitate. He quickly pushed past them all to get to the Academy’s kitchen, one because the déjà vu of the situation gave him some sort of familiarity that let his body move on its own while his mind was elsewhere and two, it gave him a chance to get away from the others.

He barely had time to set the cutting board on the table before the others all came rushing into the kitchen.

“What’s the date? The exact date.” Five sighs, quickly turning away to focus on finding the ingredients for a sandwich to avoid the others’ eyes all on him.

It wasn’t that he was necessarily hungry, in fact, he actually felt nauseous but his mind needed a mediocre task such as this to distract him from panicking. Plus if he made himself look busy then maybe the others would leave him be.

“The 24th.” Vanya finally answered.

“Of what?” Five stressed, his eyes flickering up briefly to see how his siblings had all crowded around the table, Klaus already having climbed up and seated in the middle.

“March.”

“Good.” Five said, his head tilting towards Vanya in acknowledgment. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at her, not after everything that’s happened. He knew it wasn’t her fault but still...

He fumbled to get two pieces of bread out as Luthor spoke up.

“So, are we gonna to talk about what just happened?“

Five ignored him, carefully laying the bread down on the cutting board.

Luthor practically leaped out of his chair with how quickly he got to his feet and moved towards Five, “It’s been 17 years.”

Five couldn’t hold back his scoff, glaring as he looked up at Luthor, “It’s been a lot longer than that.”

The familiar sound of static in his ears and the blue glow as he shifted the space around him was comforting to Five. Even if it was just to get behind Luthor to grab the peanut butter and marshmallows for his sandwich.

“I haven’t missed that,” Luthor muttered.

“Where’d you go?” Diego asked, Five could feel his intense stare burning holes into his back.

“The future,” Five said simply, “It’s shit, by the way.”

Mid-turn, Five spatial jumped back over towards the table just as Klaus talked, in a tone as though he were singing.

“I called it~!”

Lifting his head, Five caught Klaus’s gaze, “Nice dress.”

“Oh, well, Danke!” Klaus grabbed some sort of loose fabric and spun it around, but Five already stopped paying attention as Vanya began speaking.

“Wait, how did you get back?”

Five paused, wondering how he should respond. The last time around his explanations, though spread out, weren’t well received by the others. Perhaps he should just tell them all the truth at once? Would they even believe him, or would they just pretend too when in reality they’d assume he’d gone crazy? Maybe he did lose his mind… after all, he knew he was all kinds of fucked up, even before the apocalypse and becoming an assassin.

“Five?”

Five jerked back as Luthor reached out to him, moving away just before his hand could touch his shoulder.

“What?” Five snapped, ignoring the look of hurt that flashed over his brother’s face the moment he moved.

“Vanya asked you how you came back short stack.” Klaus grinned widely, “Something I know we’re all eager to hear about.”

Just barely able to stop himself from rolling his eyes, Five spoke tersely, “In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.”

“That makes no sense.” Diego murmured, shaking his head.

“Well, it would if you were smarter.” Five quipped, rolling his eyes as he set down the kitchen knife instead of continuing to make his sandwich.

Scowling, Diego jumped to his feet but was stopped from advancing on Five as Luthor held his arm out in front of him.

Luthor threw Diego a warning glare before returning his attention to Five, “How long were you there?”

“Forty-five years, give or take.” Hands on the table, Five leaned towards his siblings with a smirk in place.

Diego and Luthor both dropped back down into their seats while Vanya’s jaw dropped, Klaus’s eyes widened and Allison had to use the table to support herself.

“So what are you saying?” Luthor gulped, “You’re fifty-eight?”

“No,” Five couldn’t help but scoff, “My consciousness is fifty-eight. Apparently, my body is now thirteen again.”

“Wait, how does that even work?”

Five glanced over at Vanya and his lips twitched, “Come on Vanya, you know the saying. The world works in mysterious ways.” Sandwich now is forgotten entirely, Five wasn’t sure he could bring himself to force it down had he continued making it. Eyeing the newspaper on the table, Five picked it up and stared at the heading, “Guess I missed the funeral.”

“How’d you know about that?”

Was his brother always this much of an idiot?

“What part of the future do you not understand?... Heart failure huh?” Five let his eyes drift around the room as Diego and Luthor both spoke at the same time. He couldn’t help but wonder… was Ben here? He doubted Klaus would tell him even if he asked, Clicking his tongue, Five threw down the paper, “Nice to see nothing’s changed.”

“Uh, that’s it? That’s all you have to say?” Allison called out as Five walked around them to the hole opening in the wall, exiting the kitchen.

“What else is there to say?” Five called over his shoulder, “The circle of life.”

Hurrying up to his bedroom, Five closed the door behind him and stood there for a moment. Leaning back against the cool wood as his heart beat wildly in his chest. Why did he come back here again? Where were the others? He could remember what happened at the theater clearly, he made sure to hold onto them tightly, he warned them not to let go either… yet none of them were here. They may have all lost their grip on him but they were already mid-jump with him, did they land in another time? He wasn’t even in the past as far back as he had planned.

“Damnit. Damnit!” Five cursed, kicking at the small closet by his door before moving and collapsing into his bed.

Jumping through time… why was he always messing everything up? His head was killing him, using so much of his energy like that… Five knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up this pretense of everything being alright for much longer. He was just so tired… try as he might, Five couldn’t keep his consciousness from leaving him.

,

,,

,,,

Five jolted up in bed as a loud crashing rang throughout the house. He tensed up, fully prepared to jump should the moment arise. There was yelling now too, and gunfire. Eyes widening, Five looked at his forearm in alarm before glancing out his window at the night time sky.

He’d forgotten about the tracking chip.

He never left for Griddy’s Donuts which meant the first team the Handler sent to come after him were here.

“Fuck!”

Five quickly jumped to the top of the stairwell, just in front of the foyer. In front of him with their backs to him were all of his siblings, even Vanya. Though she was pushed behind Luther’s large form. In front of them with their guns pointing at them, were the Commissions team sent to find him.

“Who the hell are you?!” Diego called out, quickly pulling a knife from its sheath.

“I told you, none of you need to get hurt. We’re just here for the kid.”

“Oh?” Klaus tilted his head, “What kid is that?”

Five felt the moment the man’s eyes locked on his.

“Him.”

Each one of his siblings twisted around and looked at him, he wanted to yell at them for being stupid enough to turn their backs to the enemy.

Gritting his teeth briefly, Five forced a calm smile as he stared down at them all, “Hmm, that was fast. I thought I’d have more time before you found me.”

He could read the confusion on their faces but Five hoped that for once in their life, his siblings would all keep their mouths shut.

“Okay.” The man, clearly the leader of the team said, “So let’s all be professional about this, yeah? You come with us, they want to talk.”

Slowly, bidding his time, Five made his way down the stairs towards the men and their still raised guns. He was stopped from getting any closer as Klaus of all people grabbed hold of his arm tightly and kept him from moving. Five shot his brother a dark look, yanking his arm back but Klaus kept his grip surprisingly tight.

Seemingly thinking the same as Klaus, everyone else moved so that they were standing in a line of defense with Five shoved behind them all. Klaus pushed him over towards Vanya who quickly grabbed onto his other arm, trying to pull him away. An action which surprised him more then he cared to admit.

“It doesn’t have to go this way. Just give us the kid. I don’t want to shoot all of you and go home with that on my conscience.”

Five sighed heavily, annoyed with how things were turning out. Not only because he was foolish enough to forget about the tracker, but ticked that this man thought Five would actually let him get away with shooting any of his siblings alive.

Klaus’s eyes were latched on him the entire time, unnerving Five slightly with how serious he was being when Five knew Klaus had to be stoned at the moment.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that.” Five said calmly, “You won’t be going home.”

Spatial jumping away from Vanya and Klaus’s grasp, Five appeared directly in front of Diego. Reaching behind him, Five snatched Diego’s knife out of his hand and flung it directly into one of the five guy’s neck, the one that had been speaking and whom he assumed was the leader. The man went down immediately, Knowing that things had a chance of changing out of his favor now that the fight was no longer at Griddy’s Donuts but instead at the mansion, Five jumped once more so that he was on the other side of the guns. Causing the men to all turn away from his siblings to point their weapons at him.

Five happened to catch Luthor’s eye, so he winked before addressing his attention to the enemy before him, “Come and get me!”

Spinning on his heel, Five ran out the front door leading the men out of the house. At least outside he would have more space and his siblings wouldn’t immediately get involved. Just as they all began firing their guns at him, Five jumped once more. Landing inside the house, Five ignored how Diego and Luthor yelled at him for an explanation and snatched up the downed man's gun before jumping again. Just outside the front door, Five turned and pulled the doors shut before any of his siblings could try getting outside to join the fight. He used the gun to jam in between the door handles to keep them shut.

Smirking, Five returned his attention to the men before him. Jumping over towards one of the smaller trees in the garden, Five broke off a decent sized branch which he then used to stab one of the men in the side as he appeared back out front. The physical effort of shoving a branch through the man’s skin taking longer then Five planned which left him open as the remaining three turned their guns on him and began firing.

Five hissed as one of the stray bullets nicked his shoulder. Jumping, he appeared in the air above one of the men. Five landed onto his back and quickly wrapping his arms around the man’s neck, Five snapped it and disappeared again before the last two could see him.

Reappearing in the middle of the both of them, Five stayed still long enough for them to raise their guns up, jumping just as they started to fire. The bullets missing him entirely as they shot one another.

Panting slightly, Five stood there as everything went quiet. Four bodies in the front yard and the one still inside, clean up couldn’t wait, not with how populated their neighborhood was. Five was surprised the cops had yet to show up, and that there was no one on the streets at all let alone the sidewalks.

A loud banging from behind him startled him. Five quickly spun around, his eyes searching out the oncoming danger but instead, the front door blew off its hinges as Luthor came running outside with the others not far behind.

Luthor stopped abruptly as he noticed the bodies on the ground.

Five raised a brow, “Was breaking the doors really necessary? Everything’s been handled. Well, except cleanup that is.”

Klaus whistled, “Whoa… Looks like you picked up a few things since we last saw you, bro,”

Five glared at Klaus from the corner of his eye as he moved around Luthor to start up the steps back into the house.

Just before he could step inside, Five turned towards Diego who tensed up, “Lend me one of your knives.”

“What?” Diego’s brow furrowed, “Why?”

“Are you going to lend me a preferably sharp one or do I need to go get one from the kitchen?”

Warily, Diego pulled a knife out of the side of his boot and handed it over to Five.

Five nodded in thanks, taking it with him as he walked inside the house. Noticing out of the corner of his eye how Vanya was still standing by the stairs watching his every move. Five shot her a small grin, surprising her, as he moved over towards the nearest table.

Five paid little attention to how the rest of his siblings all crowded around him, apparently choosing to ignore the need for a cleanup to focus on pestering him instead. Lifting Diego’s knife and holding it at an angle, Five quickly stabbed it down into his forearm, near the inner elbow.

“Five!”

Once the slit was large enough, Five dropped Diego’s knife and quickly pried open his skin, sticking his fingers inside. He heard gagging from behind him and someone grabbed ahold of his wrist which kept him from being able to find the tracker. Five’s head snapped up to glare at a horrified Diego.

“W-What the hell are you d-doing?!” Diego yelled.

Five snorted, “Take your hands off me, you idiot. If you just let me finish then it’d make sense.”

“No.” Diego’s grip tightened causing Five to roll his eyes.

Knowing that this was going to drain him, Five jumped a few away and before any of the others could try stopping him again, he dug his fingers around until he finally grasped the tracker.

Five held the blinking tracker up in between his bloodied fingers as he showed it to his siblings, “This is what I was getting out you imbeciles. If I kept the tracker in then they’d only find me again.”

“A… A tracker?” Vanya repeated, “Why is there a tracker in you?”

Sighing, Five conceded that it was an actually smart question but one that would have to wait, “I’ll explain it later. For now, I need to take it elsewhere so the last known location doesn’t show the house.”

Not giving any of them a chance to speak let alone protest, Five quickly spatial jumped outside of Griddy’s Donuts and dropped the tracker just out front of the store. It was best to try and allow things to go the way they had in the previous timeline, after all, Hazel meeting the owner had actually turned out to be a good thing.

Sighing, something he realized he’s been doing a lot of lately, Five stared up at the moon. He really didn’t want to deal with explaining the apocalypse to any of them, not now at least. He was sore, tired and wanted some damn coffee at least before he had to handle his siblings. Five jumped back to the house, appearing by the couch in the foyer just as his legs gave out, his hold on his consciousness slipping away as well.


	2. Dust to Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five wakes up and realizes that time is passing by quicker than he anticipated.

His head was pounding, the pressure built up behind his eyes edging to the side of becoming painful enough to leave them watering.

It was warm. Overly warm, and when something cold suddenly touched his forehead Five couldn’t help but flinch away. He could hear voices floating over his head, people calling out to him, their voices coming and going and occasionally someone would try touching him again, each time they did Five flinched.

He needed to wake up, figure out what the hell he had to do now. He had to stop the apocalypse before anyone else died. He needed to speak with Vanya, warn her about Harold Jenkins and he had to warn them about Hazel and Cha-Cha before it was too late. There were a lot of things he still needed to do. Instead, he squeezed his eyes tighter shut as the smell of burning wood hit him. This time, when someone’s fingers brushed against his forehead, Five didn’t hesitate. Blue electricity crackled in the air around him, the noise one only he could ever hear as he jumped a few feet away from wherever he had been.

Eyes now open, Five watched in masked confusion as Allison jumped to her feet and spun around calling out for him. Only to freeze as her eyes landed on him standing by the table instead of the couch he had apparently been laying on. Klaus who was sitting on the cushioned chair closest to the fireplace was staring at him oddly, the hot poker in his hand still prodding at the burning logs.

Five swallowed past the lump in his throat, his eyes stuck on the embers floating almost lazily through the air. There was ash raining down on them, Five eyed the way it clung to the feathers of Klaus’s coat and Allison’s hair, his gaze went down to his own feet. The floor of the mansion's foyer momentarily replaced with soot and cracked pieces of cement surrounding him. Nails digging into his palm, Five deliberately took a deep, measured breath, held it for a moment then let it all out at once.

Neither Allison nor Klaus had moved in the time it took Five to regain a sliver of control over himself, and for some reason unknown to him their actions both angered and hurt him. Forcing a grin, more mocking than what he had been aiming for, Five quickly vanished up to his bedroom.

Hopefully, none of the others would try barging in. It would seem in the years he’d been gone, the knocking on doors was something his siblings forgot how to do. Five stared down at his hands as they continued to shake. He could still smell the burning of the logs and taste the ash on his tongue every time he breathed.

_The ashes fell through the air, swaying gently on the little breeze there was. It was beautiful in a horrifyingly tragic sort of way, how a scene so peaceful could be found in so much destruction. Gone was the blue sky he had taken for granted, in its place were clouds of smoke rising up into the air mixing with the reddish grey hue that greeted him anytime he looked up._

_No matter how far he walked, the destruction continued on for miles and miles. His knees, the skin was torn from the many falls he’d taken tripping over debris, stung and the sun beat down heavily from above. He was thirsty and tired. So very tired, but Five couldn't bring himself to rest, not now._

_Licking his lips, Five slowly spun in a circle, taking in his surroundings. He needed to find some wood, sturdy enough to stand on its own. Yet so far, all the wood he’s come across was either burning or split due to an impact of some sort. Looking down at his bloodied hands, his nails caked with dirt and the skin in various areas missing. Five shuddered as he thought back to why his hands looked this way, and why he needed to find some wood._

_Luthor, Diego, Allison, and Klaus. He’d found all of them, and after hours of digging nonstop, he had to accept that Vanya and Ben weren’t there._

“Five?”

_He couldn’t help but feel relieved that they weren't there, that meant there was a chance they were still alive then, that he could find them. He only needed to make four graves instead of six._

"Hey, Five. Five!"

_He continued walking for just a bit further there wasn't even any more wood lying around, or if there was then he couldn't see it. Eyes stinging, Five stumbled his way back towards where the remains of the mansion laid._

"Five!"

Five's head snapped to the side, his cheek throbbing. Slowly, lifting a hand to his face and pressing against his cheek Five’s eyes darted over to his left where Klaus was rocking back on his heels, leaning away from him. Klaus’s eyes were blown wide and his lips turned down, Five had a feeling it wasn’t due to any drugs he’d taken either.

“Uh, heeeey buddy,” Klaus grinned half-heartedly, “You okay there?”

Glowering, his cheeks dusted pink as a wave of embarrassment washed over him, Five snapped, “I’m perfectly fine, now what the hell are you doing in my room?!”

He was exhausted, but who knows how much time he’s wasted already. When he first arrived there were only eight days until the Apocalypse, he needed all the time he could get if he wanted to do it right this time around.

“Five!”

“What?!” Five snarled, his hands clenched into fists doing nothing to hide their shaking.

He watched as Klaus’s head turned to the side, shaking his head and frowning at something Five couldn’t see. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Five gritted his teeth together as he fought back the urge to yell at or possibly punch his brother.

“Tell Ben that I’m fine.” Five muttered before he realized that this Klaus didn’t even know he was aware of Ben’s ghost being there.

Klaus’s head snapped around to stare at him causing Five to bark out, “If you have nothing to say, then get the hell out of my room already!”

Klaus shook his body, visibly steeling himself for the conversation it seemed.

“I want to know how you know about Ben but that can wait until later. For now…,” Klaus hesitates, his eyes glancing back over at Ben who nodded encouragingly, “Five what the hell was that? I literally came in here almost five minutes ago and wherever you were it sure as hell wasn’t here. I kept calling out to you and you weren’t answering me at all.”

Five’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t need to explain myself to you, however, if it will put your feeble mind at rest then I was simply lost in thought. Something you wouldn’t even be able to begin to understand.”

Seeing how Klaus wasn’t deterred from the conversation in the slightest, Five quickly stalked over towards him and pushed him in the chest. Causing him to stumble back towards the door.

“I’ve had enough of your insolence.” Five snapped, his eyes glinting dangerously, “Either you get out of my room now or I will drag you out myself.”

Before for Klaus could have the chance to try and argue with him, Five pushed with his shoulder using all of his weight to cause Klaus to trip out of the room. Five slammed the door shut after him, quickly locking it before he made his way over to his bed. Sitting on the side, Five hunched over with his head in his hands.

He needed time to think, but considering how there was still light out Five knew he’s already lost a day due to allowing himself to pass out. It was stupid of him, wasting his time because he wasn’t thinking and exhausted himself more so than last time just to take out a mere team of five. Lips pulled back in a snarl, Five leaped to his feet, pacing around his room.

He needed to speak with Vanya. He’d barely seen her let alone talk with her the last time he’d attempted to avert the apocalypse and look how well that turned out. He had to do things differently, he just wasn’t sure how.

It took him a little over an hour to finish writing out the necessary equations for how he could improve his spatial jumps. If he wanted to be able to keep everyone safe, then Five knew he’d need to learn to take others with him during jumps. It was too risky trying to go through time with all of his siblings and just assuming that everything would turn out alright. For all he knew, he might’ve just imagined pulling them all into the vortex with him and they could’ve actually all died as pieces of the moon crashed into the earth.

“Shit.” Five muttered, his stomach twisting at the thought.

_It started with seeing a hand sticking up out of the ruins of the Academy. Five stumbled towards it, his stomach heavy like lead the closer he came to the clothed hand. Leaning across a slab of concrete, having to rest his knees on top in order to reach all the way, Five’s fingers slipped around something sphere-like and moist._

_Bringing his hand towards his face, Five gagged as he realized it was an eyeball of all things he was holding. The eye falling and rolling off the concrete slab as he hastily let go of it. Wiping his hand on his shorts, Five glanced back at the limb sticking from the Academy’s ruins and leaned towards it once more. The hand itself was larger than his own, Five reached out to it, letting his fingers brush against the fabric of the green sleeve._

_Five pulled himself further up the slab in order to let his eyes follow the arms path to the body, his eyes latched onto the male face also peacefully relaxed as he laid there. The man’s facial features… were unsettlingly familiar._

_Gulping, Five hastily moved back, away from the body, trying to distance himself from the terrible feeling building up in his chest. Turning his head to look anywhere else besides the hand still sticking out of the rubble, Five’s eyes landed on yet another body. This one that of an adult male laying on their front, their dark clothing and hair coated in the dust of crumbled concrete._

_Five slowly moved over towards him, gently shaking the man’s back before checking for a pulse. Nothing._

_Head tilted upwards, Five’s head swiveled back and forth, searching around him in desperation as the feeling from earlier doubled. Spotting another body not too far away, Five stood up, about to head over to the… the creatively dressed body when he caught sight of all too familiar tattoo on the man’s wrist._

_“No…” Five breathed, deflating like a balloon as the air rushed out of him._

_The tattoo of an umbrella stood out against the stark pale skin. Movements frantic, Five rushed back to the previous two bodies, searching their arms and letting out a small whimper as the same tattoo was found on them. Five ignored the odd amount of hair on the first corpse he’d found, standing there, Five stared down at the eye he dropped earlier._

_It sat there, staring back at him. Frowning, after a few minutes had passed by, Five hesitantly bent down and picked the eyeball back up. Realizing as he picked it up that the eye was once manufactured, not an actual human eyeball, Five let out a small sigh of relief._

_That relief was short-lived. Five felt that terrible feeling from before bubbling over inside of him, crushing him with its weight. Collapsing to his knees, Five’s chest heaved as he struggled to breathe in. His eyes burning as tears welled up in them._

“Five!”

Startled, Five jumped back, appearing on the other side of his bedroom as Diego waltzed into his room, eyeing him warily. Heart beating wildly in his chest, trying and failing to still his shaking hands, Five cleared his throat and quickly said, “What is with you people and just barging into my room? Have you all become heathens, or have I been gone long enough that knocking is no longer a thing!”

Squinting at him, Diego frowned, “...Mom made dinner for all of us… come downstairs and eat something, will you? You look like a damn ghost.”

Five’s brow furrowed, pushing any memories regarding his time in the apocalypse lingering at the surface to the side, “Dinner? What time is it?”

“It’s a bit after six-”

“Fuck. Fuck!” Five cursed, his body tensing.

Already he’s been here for almost two days now and he has yet to accomplish anything.

“Eat without me.” Five scowled, immediately moving as the warm blue light of spatial jumping surrounded him.

Five left before Diego could say another word.

He couldn’t try and do all of this on his own, not now when he couldn’t even function properly enough to get through a day without his mind playing tricks on him or his memories threatening to overtake him. It was because he decided to go about stopping the apocalypse on his own that Vanya ended up going with Harold Jenkins in the first place. He’d seen how she didn’t believe him, only instead of trying to further explain everything to her, he’d seen it as a waste of time and pushed her to the side. Not giving her or their siblings another thought as he spent his time going off on his own to figure out how to stop the end of the world. He may not have known that Peabody was actually Harold Jenkins but Five should’ve known better. He should’ve been able to figure it out! He’s supposed to be the genius of the seven of them yet he’d done the least in figuring out how to stop the apocalypse from happening.

He’d been so intent on finding the owner of that damn prosthetic eye that Five ignored everything else around him.

Landing inside of Vanya’s apartment, Five sat down in the chair right under the lamp of the end table and folded his legs up onto the seat. He held his hands up to his chin, resting his head on them as he thought about what he should do next.

If the events of the timeline proceeded the same as they’d done previously, then Five knew he was too late to stop Vanya from meeting Leonard Peabody. The next logical course of action would be for him to kill him before he could attempt to sway Vanya into stopping her medication and letting her powers loose all at once. However, Five knew that forcing Vanya to continue taking her medication and keeping the truth from her was not something he wanted to do.

It was thanks to their idiotic adoptive father doing just that, that Vanya turned out the way she did.

Five couldn’t do that to her, Vanya deserved better than that.

There were so many things that Five knew he had to keep an eye out for, he couldn’t let Klaus be captured by Hazel and Cha-Cha again. Though that did lead to Klaus getting his hands on a case… Something about that time jump had changed Klaus for the better, Five knew it left his brother with scars past what one could physically see but whatever happened had been enough for Klaus to strive to be sober.

It was because he stopped with the drugs and outrageous amounts of alcohol that Klaus was able to learn something new about his powers and manifest Ben in the theater. Five bit his lip, while the outcome had been positive, Five found he couldn’t bring himself to step to the side and allow Klaus to be tortured just because of him.

He would just need to convince Klaus to go sober without whatever kick to the ass going to the past had given him. Five knew he could at least count on Ben being on his side to convince Klaus to stop with the drugs. The alcohol, on the other hand, Five knew he had no right to stop anyone from drinking, but he could at least monitor how much Klaus took in.

Sighing softly, Five glanced around Vanya’s apartment, his eyes landing on the digital clock on the counter on the opposite side of the room. It was a quarter past nine and Vanya had yet to come back to her apartment.

Worried, Five scrambled to his feet, doing a quick search of the apartment to ensure that Vanya hadn’t come home, seen him and gone to her room. The apartment was empty.

“Nonono,” Five muttered, rushing through his jump to Harold Jenkin’s house.

He needed to make sure Vanya wasn’t alone with that man. Five landed upstairs in the attic, smacking his side into the corner of a desk as he stumbled from the jump. His eyes took in the action figures of his siblings and himself, the comics and the newspaper clippings cut out and laid out all over. He shuddered as his gaze landed on the poster of each of them with their faces gone.

Seeing all of this a second time reminded him just how… disturbing Jenkins’ fascination with the Umbrella Academy was.

The corpse from last time was nowhere to be seen and after checking for a car in the driveway, Five left the attic to search through the rest of the house. The kitchen, living room, bathrooms, and bedroom all seemed to be empty.

Five stayed in the lone bedroom of the house, staring in disgust at the flyer with his sisters’ address and phone number on it, offering violin lessons for people fourteen and older. A picture of Vanya, one he recognized as the portrait picture from the back of her book, was cut out and taped on top of the flyer.

“Fucking disgusting perverted piece of shit,” Five spat, his eyes glinting dangerously.

White, hot anger flood through his blood as he took note of how the flyer was laid across a pillow on one side of the bed. Moving without thinking about what he was doing, Five snatched up the flyer and crumbled it. Pissed at the thought that Jenkins probably slept like this every night with a picture of his sister in his bed. Five shoved the crushed paper into the pocket of his shorts.

Just as he spun on his heel, about to storm out of the room, Five froze as a thick, red notebook caught his eye from where it sat on the small dresser in the room. The golden embroidery initials R.H shining slightly from the light Five turned on in the room.

Five’s eyes widened in disbelief as he hesitantly made his way over to the notebook. It had to be a trap and yet, Five picked the notebook up carefully, holding it to his chest. It couldn’t be this easy.

He didn’t know how right he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a bit to realize how I want to go about this chapter, I kept rewriting it until I felt like it was more something Five would think. I apologize if he seems a tad off, but he is having an internal crisis.  
> Also, thank you for all the lovely comments~!


	3. Seep into My Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five can't handle so much pressure all at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! Number Five curses a lot, I'm having fun writing it out too :)

Just before he could jump back to the house, Five yelped as something hard collided with the side of his head. The force of impact strong enough to bring tears to his eyes as his vision blurred. Disoriented, Five twisted around, his body swaying unsteadily as he looked into the face of an enraged Harold Jenkins.

The moment he turned it was as though a veil of uncertainty and fear washed over him as Jenkin’s lips pulled back into a clown/joker imitation of a smile with how wide it's gone. The childlike glee that erupted from the man caused Five to recoil as he took a step towards him.

“Oh. _Oh_. You’re… you’re Number Five… aren’t you?” Jenkins asked in awe, his eyes slowly taking in Five inch by inch.

Five took a step back, he wasn’t sure why he hasn’t just jumped out of there already but something, some instinct of his was telling him if he just left then he’d come to regret it. Now would be the perfect chance for him to end this, he had Harold Jenkins literally right in front of him, if he killed him now he could spare Vanya from doing it herself as it was far too late to stop her last time. He didn’t want Vanya to have to live through the experience of killing someone no matter how much they deserved it. He knew from personal experience how killing someone weighs on the mind, even if you think of some way to justify your actions, it doesn’t make the memory fade.

He knew Allison said that Jenkins, as Leonard Peabody became Vanya’s boyfriend, Five didn’t know the exact details of their time together but he knew he’d used his sister. He knew that Vanya’s yearning to be accepted and loved was taken by this man and twisted until he used it against her.

It was because of Jenkins Vanya finally broke, sure the damage had long since been inflicted since their childhood and made worse over the years as her own family cast her aside but Five knew that it was due to Jenkins warping his sister’s fears and insecurities that Vanya had finally snapped. Five’s mouth shifted into a snarl as he stood up to his full height, his head pounding but ignored as all the resentment and anger Five felt for Jenkins returned three times as potent as before.

Before Five could even move, Jenkins was already in front of him his hands gripping Five by the biceps painfully tight.

“Number Five did you," Jenkins' eyes lit up, “Did you come here to see me?”

“What? No.” Five narrowed his eyes, “I’d much rather rot in hell than willingly spend another moment in your presence.”

Jenkins smile tightened before he calmly let go of Five, his eyes lingering on Reginald’s notebook, “Hmm, If you say so number Five. However, would you mind letting go of that for me? It’s quite the collector's item of mine.”

Five scoffed, “Like hell it is. Listen here you fucking piece of shit, I know what you’re planning.” Five’s body shook as he forced himself not to tackle Jenkins then and there, “Stay the hell away from Vanya. She is not some, some kind of toy for you to play with!”

Jenkins struck before Five even realized it, his first colliding with Five’s cheek sent his head snapping to the side. Five jerked back, moving out of Jenkins reach as the man trying going after him again. Reacting on instinct, Five reached behind him and grabbed an object off the small dresser before appearing inches in front of Jenkins and raising his arm to slam whatever he’d picked up into the man’s eye.

A pen. He grabbed a pen.

Jenkins collapses his knees, screaming at the top of his lungs and his hands came up to grasp at his injured eye.

Five couldn’t help but find the irony in the situation, he’d stabbed Jenkins directly in the eye he lost in the original timeline.

He could kill him right now and be done with it, with everything. Only the moment Five moved towards Jenkins about to go through with the finishing blow, Jenkins had snapped up and has one good eye glared at him harshly. The pure… insanity Five saw reflected in Jenkins gaze chilled him to the bone. Jenkins slowly got to his feet and staggered towards Five, his bloodied hands reaching out to him like a scene out of a horror movie.

His heartbeat speeding up, Five wasted no time in jumping away, back to the safety of the Academy’s kitchen. Five misguided his jump and landed directly on the kitchen table, his head slamming against the wood as he had no time to brace his fall.

“What the-”

“Five?!”

Rolling over onto his back, Five opened his eyes and was met with twin concerned stares from both Vanya and Allison.

“Is that blood?” Vanya’s eyes widened, “Oh my god, Five what happened?!”

Slowly, with the help of Allison despite Five telling her that he didn’t need her help, Five sat up on the table facing his sisters.

“I’m fine.” Five muttered, glancing down at his chest to check that he still had the red notebook and that its initials weren’t showing.

“You are not fine! Five, there’s blood all over you.” Allison stands with her hands on her hips, daring Five to disagree with her.

“None of it’s mine.” Five snapped, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m in need of a shower.”

Jumping without another word, Five appeared just outside the bathroom door closest to his bedroom. It was just his luck that out of all nineteen bathrooms the Academy had, Klaus picked this one to go too.

Klaus stood there with his mouth hanging open as he stared down at Five, “What the? Uh, Kiddo you got a little… something all over you.”

Glowering, Five shouldered his way past Klaus into the bathroom, “Yes, I was unaware of that Klaus. Thank you so much for pointing that out to me!”

Klaus stepped back, his hands held up in a sign of surrender, “Ok, okay. Yeesh, what happened though? You look like crap, not the good kind of after a night of fun crap either.”

Rolling his eyes, Five muttered under his breath, “I had a run in with a pervert.”

“What?” Klaus hissed, his voice uncharacteristically hard.

Surprised, Five didn’t say a word as Klaus stepped towards him, looking him over. Five didn’t mean for Klaus to hear him, though thinking it over it wasn’t as if his words weren’t the truth, Klaus was just misunderstanding why he called Jenkins a pervert.

“Are you injured anywhere?” Klaus’s head turned towards the side where Five assumed Ben was at, “What? His head?”

Klaus looked back over at Five, his hands coming up to prod at Five’s temple before he could try and move away. Five winced the moment Klaus’s fingers prodded the area Jenkins hit him in the cheek, wincing again when Klaus brought his hand around to cup the back of Five’s head.

“How injured are you?” Klaus pushed Five further into the bathroom before moving in himself and closing the door.

Five stayed silent, watching as Klaus rummaged around in the cabinet under the sink. He didn’t understand what the big deal was, he was a bit sore and his head was still throbbing from being hit twice but Five has had enough concussions to know that he was fine. At worst he’ll have a bruise and a bit of a bump come tomorrow morning. Sighing lightly, Five set down Reginald’s notebook on the floor behind the toilet, out of Klaus’s sight.

“I know that! I- ugh, fine!” Five watched what seemed to him a one-sided argument Klaus was having with thin air before he turned towards him, one of the many first aid kits the Academy was equipped within his hands, “Five, how many fingers am I holding up, bud?”

Five blinked, his eyes shifting over to the space he’d seen Klaus address earlier, “Ben I assure you if I had a concussion then I would know. It’s just a bump, I’ll put some ice on it later.”

Klaus crossed his arms, yelping as the first aid box hit him in the chest, “That’s another thing! How the hell do you know about Ben? None of the others know, and I know for certain I never mentioned it to you.”

Huffing, Five mirrored Klaus’s pose, “I know a lot of things, what’s it matter if I know about you being able to see Ben? It’s your power Klaus, not anything new.”

Klaus squinted at him, “I know what you’re doing.”

“What?”

“You’re doing that thing! You know! That thing where you act all sassy and shit to try and piss us off enough that we’ll leave you alone!”

Five grinned, with all teeth his smile cold, “Did you perhaps think, for once in your damn life, that I want to be left alone?”

Klaus snorted, “If you really want to be alone they why haven’t you pulled your disappearing act? Huh? You had no issue disappearing when we were thirteen.”

Five froze, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he took a step towards Klaus, “Get out.” Five whispered.

“What?”

“Get out!”

Klaus hastily dropped his arms by his sides, “Wait. Wait Five, I didn’t mean-”

“Shut the fuck up,” Five snarled, his entire body shaking, “You- you fucking selfish prick! Do you think I wanted to disappear? Do you think I didn’t spend the past forty fucking years trying to come home?! I was stuck there, I tried for years and nothing, nothing I tried worked! I told you the future was shit, I came back to change that, too fucking save you useless, ungrateful, ignorant sons of bitches!”

“Fi-”

Five’s voice dropped, low and deadly as he stared at Klaus, “I said. Get. Out.”

“I-”

Moving fast, Five hooked his foot behind Klaus’s ankle pushing roughly against his brother's chest forcing him to trip and smack his back into the bathroom door. Hand fisted in in Klaus’s collar, Five yanked on it, forcing Klaus to bend down so they were face to face, “This is your last warning Number Four. Get the hell out, and stay the fuck away from me, or you will regret it.”

Five stood back, watching with his face blank as Klaus scrambled to get out of the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind him. Once he was certain that Klaus wouldn’t try coming back inside, double checking that the door was locked, Five sunk down to the cold, tile flooring. Sitting with his back to the tub and his knees up to his chest, Five buried his head in them as his entire body trembled.

Everything he’s gone through, every sacrifice he’s made over the past forty-five years, his fighting for survival, struggling to make it to the next day with only the thought of returning home to his family keeping him going, all of that and Klaus had assumed he stayed away on purpose? Five used his teeth to bite into his knuckles, ignoring the now dry blood on them as he fought back the sob that threatened to break loose.

What right did Klaus have to say that, any of that to him? His entire purpose was to stop this damn apocalypse for them. To keep them safe, to keep them all alive. Was that what the others thought of him? That he’d left them all, staying away simply because he wanted too? They had to know that he never would’ve left them behind, he knew how horrible it was living there, he wouldn’t just leave them there to face Reginald on their own.

The moment that first tear escaped it was as if a dam had broken loose, Five stayed there, hunched over with his head as far tucked down as it would go as his knees grew wet and his shoulders shook.

Five bit his lip harshly to muffle his cries, he knew that none of the rooms bar the training room and Reginald's office was soundproof. Then again, even if any of the others heard him, would they care enough to come to find him?

Wiping the back of his hand across his nose, Five sniffed loudly, attempting to stop it from leaking. The lump in his throat makes it hard to breathe, gasping in pants as he lifted his other hand to rub at his eyes. Seeing the red from the blood still on his hands, Five crawled closer to the end of the tub where the shower knobs were located. The need to get the blood off of him made his movements frantic as he scrambled to pull himself into the tub. Shuddering as a jet of cold water struck him, Five sat there on the floor of the shower and let the water wash over him. Staring down at the drain as the clear water grew murky as it mixed with the blood.

_There was blood on his hands, mixing with the clumps of dirt stuck under his nails. Bits of his skin torn open from clawing at the rubble of the Academy while trying to unbury Allison and Diego. Klaus at least had been mostly uncovered, just small bits of cement clinging to his body as it laid on top of the ruins. Luthor took the longest to free, his brother’s size nearly three times what he remembered and buried from the chest down._

_Five struggled just to move them all out to an opening he’d cleared of any debris, their sizes almost twice his own. He laid them out in a line next to each other, side by side, Luthor first, then Diego, Allison, and finally Klaus. Five quickly turned from them, unable to stand the sight of them all laying there, dead._

_Five spent hours, almost an entire day if his internal clock was right, sifting through the remains of the Academy, searching for either Ben or Vanya’s bodies. He had no idea if they were even there, it was after collapsing due to fatigue for the third time in a row that Five had to force himself to stop._

_Secretly he hoped that because he hadn’t found their bodies, then there was a chance that they were still alive._

_The entire time since he first arrived here, he has yet to see another living person. There were a few bodies spread out in the street, cars buried and no animals to be seen. Despite not leaving the area, and making as much noise as he had, no one had come to see what he was doing._

_Exhausted, Five slowly made his way back towards where he laid the rest of his siblings. A sudden worry, appearing out of nowhere, of an animal possibly making itself known and trying to feed off of his family had Five running back to the clearing. He fell, repeatedly, and his legs screamed in protest, but Five did not stop. He kept going, only slowing down once he could see the faint outline of Luthor’s large figure._

_There was nothing near them._

_Relieved, Five staggered over towards them, collapsing down to his knees before falling to his side right by Luthor and Deigo’s heads. Their bodies were freezing and for a moment, just before he gave in to his exhaustion, Five wished that he could warm them up by being near._

Five’s head jerked to the side, a flare of pain in his cheek making itself known as well as two large hands grasping his sides, lifting him. Startled, Five tried to fight back, to free himself from the sudden hold on him only his movements were sluggish at best. He found he had no energy to move let alone fight off someone. He couldn’t even gather the strength needed to jump somewhere safe.

Five squeezed his eyes shut, silently wondering if this was it. If perhaps Hazel or Cha-Cha had found him and this was the end. However, instead of any pain or the sound of a gun going off, Five felt the large hands loosen their hold on him just to shift so that they were wrapped around him in a hug instead.

Five tensed. The strange touch unwelcome and disheartening the longer it went on. His impartial concern towards his own wellbeing fading as one of the large hands gently began rubbing circles on his back. Five tried to open his eyes, to see who it was that was picking him up, that was hugging him but he was too tired. All he wanted to do was relax into the warm embrace and sleep.

The warmth was a welcome change, he hadn’t realized it before but Five felt almost numb with how cold he was.

“Five? Come on, Five can you hear me?”

Luthor? Five frowned, turning his head towards the source of warmth and burying his face into it. He could’ve sworn he just hear a snort of laughter but he didn’t want to move to try and see who it was from.

“Doesn’t seem like he’s able to speak right now, just to take him to his room. We’ll talk to him later.”

Deigo was in the room, which meant the laughter from earlier had probably been from him. It didn’t sound like one of Luthor’s laughs, though if Five were being honest it’s been over forty years since he’s heard it so it could’ve changed.

A lot changed since he’s been gone.

Five whined, low in his throat as the ground seemed to disappear from underneath him. The grip tightened on him, almost reflexively before relaxing a bit.

“It’s okay Five, it’s just me.”

He opened his mouth, fully prepared to yell at Luthor to put him down only his throat seemed to not be working with him. Another hand, one he knew couldn’t belong to Luthor as he could still feel his brother holding onto him, came to rest atop of his head pushing his hair back out of his face.

After that everything began to blur together. Five could still hear Luthor and Deigo speaking to one another, for a moment he thought he heard Klaus yelling and it caused him to stiffen in surprise but then Luthor’s voice was whispering in his ear, saying that everything was fine, but Five couldn’t bring himself to focus on anything.

Soon the warmth disappeared, replaced by something that was enough to keep him from feeling cold but it didn’t have the same effect of having someone else nearby did. That thought alone had Five frowning in discomfort, his tilting his head to the side and pressing his face into the pillow.

He didn’t want to be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up writing this during my English Lecture instead of listening... Oops?


	4. Sometimes I get This Feeling

By the time he woke up, Five felt as though he hadn’t slept at all, and was furious with himself. Mainly in regards to his memories of how he behaved greeting him the moment he regained awareness. He tried to justify his actions but no excuse he thought up seemed to be enough for him. He lost control, he let his emotions get the best of him and that was not something he could afford to let happen again.

Not now when everyone was counting on him.

That and Five was growing annoyed by how often now he’d lost consciousness the past few days and had woken up hours later in his bedroom.

He’s already wasted three days now, he only had five days left to put a stop to the apocalypse. At the rate he was going, it seems like he was only setting himself up to fail all over again. Five slowly opened his eyes, the curtains pulled shut and all lights in his room were off.

His head hurt, and his cheek was throbbing but Five ignored that as he heard shuffling on the other side of his room. He tensed, his eyes squinting as he tried to quicken their adjustment to the dark.

The creaking of the floorboards as whoever was in the room moved closer had Five gripping the sheets of his bed tightly as he forced the rest of his body to relax. As soon as Five felt the bed dip he immediately jumped to the other side of the room, his hands coming up in front of him as he prepared himself for the upcoming fight.

“Whoa, calm down! It’s just me.”

Diego?

Scowling, Five narrowed his eyes at his brother, “What are you doing in my room?”

“Is that how you say thank you?” Diego scoffed, “You were sitting in that damn shower for hours. Who the hell do you think had to lug your frozen ass outta there?”

Five froze, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment as he noticed his change of clothes. He frowned as he recalled Luthor being the one to carry him as well as someone smacking his already bruised cheek.

“If I remember correctly, Luthor was the one to carry me, not you.”

Diego crossed his arms, “He couldn’t fit in the shower to grab you, I had to climb in and hand you over to him.”

“Were you the one who hit me too?” Five asked pleasantly, one eyebrow arching up.

“...No?”

Eyes narrowed, Five jumped and reappeared right in front of Diego causing his eyes to widen, “I see. In that case, get out of my room before I retaliate in kind.”

“Fi-”

“Out! Now!”

Not bothering to wait for Diego to leave, Five threw him a warning glare before he vanished in a swirl of blue. He needed time to think and he couldn’t do that with Diego breathing down his shoulder. His first stop was into the bathroom, his eyes searching out Reginald’s notebook which he snatched up, breathing a sigh of relief that it hadn’t been found. Gripping the notebook tightly, Five jumped up to the roof of the Academy just above his bedroom.

There was still the issue of dealing with Harold Jenkins but Five knew he had to find out how much the man knew about all of them. He couldn’t let him have any advantage over them. Acknowledging that this would not be as easy as he wanted it to be, Five sat down on the edge of the roof, with his legs hanging over, as he opened the notebook and began to read.

The first few pages were inconsequential, merely facts of their ages, heights, and weights up until the age of six. After that, Five presumed it was due to none of their abilities showing until they turned six, it was all notes on what triggered them. How their abilities showed themselves, to what Reginald believed they were and how to control them.

It was while reading through some of the training regime’s that Reginald wrote out for each of his siblings that Five had to stop his reading and regain some control over himself. He knew that each of them experienced nothing short of torture for their training, even Luthor though he refused to admit it to any of them, reading about it in detached detail as though they were mere lab experiments sent a shiver down his spine.

Five supposed that’s all they ever were to him after all, experiments Reginald molded under his thumb over the years.

“Fucking hell…” Five muttered running a hand down his face.

Everything. _Everything about_ his siblings and himself was written down here. The only consolation was that Reginald had no information about him other than what he collected before he disappeared.

Which meant that Harold Jenkins had little to no decent information on him. That was something Five could use to his advantage. Sighing as he closed the notebook, Five jumped back into his bedroom, pleased to see that Diego left, and hid the notebook in the middle of his bookshelf.

He needed to speak with Vanya, about many things really, but first, he needed to warn her about Jenkins and then after the apocalypse has been averted he’ll speak with her about her abilities.

He won’t let her down. Not again.

This would be easier if Dolores was here with him… She’d be able to at least tell him where to begin. He had to kill Jenkins, that much was a given, only he knew that once Jenkins was gone then the Temps Commission would send agents after Vanya in hopes of triggering the apocalypse. If he waited then Vanya wouldn’t be put in harm's way but then Jenkins would still have a chance to start the Apocalypse.

“...I need a drink.”

Reappearing right by the bar downstairs, Five swiftly snatched a bottle of whiskey and poured it into a clean Tumblr. Watching silently as the amber liquid swished around inside of the glass.

“Little early for drinking isn’t it baby bro?”

Klaus.

Five tensed up, fingers clenching as his previous interaction with his brother sprung up still fresh in his mind, “...I am older than every last one of you idiots.”

“Uh, right…”

Five twisted around on the stool at Klaus’s awkward chuckling to stare at his brother coldly, “Was there something you needed Number Four?”

Klaus glanced off to the side, frowning and shaking his head before returning his attention to Five, “I, uh, wanted to talk to you? Yeah. I need to talk to you, Five I-”

Five smirked as he cut Klaus off, “We’re already doing that. Great talk, really, now go away. I have a headache and your presence is only making it worse.”

Remembering what Klaus thought of him disappearing only succeeded in pissing him off, Five needed to leave before he actually attacked his brother. Which had a high possibility of happening as Klaus frowned at him?

“No.”

“ _Fine.”_

Before Five could even think about jumping away Klaus honest to go leaped across the area and tackled Five to the floor. It was because he was so shocked by the sudden action that Five actually froze, never mind the fact that being tackled by a grown man off a bar stool had hurt.

“Shit!” Klaus scrambled off of him, pushing himself to his feet and quickly stepping back, “Are you okay? I didn’t think you’d actually go down! I-Shut up, Ben!”

Slowly, Five got to his feet. Brushing off imaginary dust from his shorts as his arm twinged, Five scowled at Klaus angrily, “Don’t you _ever_ do that again.”

Getting tackled like that had hurt. Not just because of his head injuries from Jenkins. When he hit the floor he landed on his arm with Klaus’s weight on top of him.

Klaus grinned widely though that did nothing to hide the look in his eyes as he quickly looked Five over, “Are you okay? I’m sorry Kiddo-”

“I’m not a kid!” Five snapped.

“A-Anyway!” Klaus dropped the grin, his sudden seriousness causing Five to shift back warily, “We need to talk, and please don’t go disappearing on me okay? This is important! Besides, if you run I’ll just find you again.”

Five sighed, he should’ve figured he couldn’t avoid this confrontation forever, he was just glad it was only one of his siblings and not all of them there to interrogate him. However, that didn’t mean that he wanted to talk to Klaus at the moment, not to mention he knew Ben was there listening as well.

Five smirked, trying to ignore the guilt that built up inside of him as Klaus’s hopeful smile fell, “Sorry. There’s something I need to do.”

Without waiting for a response, Five was engulfed in a swirl of blue as he warped away. Klaus yelling out his name getting cut off as Five left the area.

Sure running away was a… cowardly move, not something he was proud of doing but Five knew he wouldn’t be able to handle discussing everything with his family, especially Klaus. Klaus just thought that he vanished all those years because he wanted to, Five spent years doing everything he could to get back to them. None of them could even begin to fathom what he’s gone through, for all of them.

He’s killed, lied, bartered, stolen and deceived so many people over the years. How could any of them try and understand him if they wouldn’t believe him about the apocalypse, to begin with?

Not giving much attention to where he was warping to, Five was just as surprised as a flock of pigeons when he suddenly appeared outside of some sort of small bookstore. Sighing under his breath, Five stalked into the store, his foot freezing over the doorframe as the smell of fresh coffee hit his nose. It was as a few of the other patrons in the shop looked up at him that Five realized he was just standing there like an idiot. Standing up straight, Five strode into the store, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as he made his way over to one of the empty tables he saw and sat down closest to a few bookshelves.

A glance at a few of the titles of the books showed he sat down by the baking section of the store. Five grimaced, about to get up and move elsewhere but stopped as a young man suddenly flopped into a chair across from him.

Five raised a brow at the man as he grinned back at him.

“So, whatcha doing here by yourself?”

Five sniffed, glaring at the man, “I’m perfectly capable of going out on my own. Either way, it is none of your business.”

The man held his hands out in front of him, “Ok. Okay, sorry. I just needed to make sure you weren’t some homeless kid. My boss would’ve yelled at me if I just let you stay in here.”

“You kicking me out?” Five narrowed his eyes, daring the man to try and make him move.

“Nah,” The man shrugged, “You don’t exactly look like a homeless kid with that uniform. Just don’t get into any fights or make a mess and you can stay till closing.”

Five hummed nonchalantly as he eyed the man’s nametag; Jason. Jason waved at him before standing up and walking off towards a group of teens yelling on the other side of the store.

Now what. Five knew he didn’t want to go back to the academy, there was a chance Vanya wasn’t at her apartment and Five didn’t want to risk meeting Jenkins there. Seeking out Hazel and Cha-Cha would do nothing for him, though he could try convincing Hazel to ‘retire’ from the Commission earlier than last time. At the moment though, he still felt drained, something which was beginning to concern him.

He couldn’t afford to go around weakened by whatever was going on with his body when he needed to stop the apocalypse. He needed to get rid of Jenkins, he needed to stop the Commission from finding him or his siblings and killing them all.

Sighing, Five reached over and pulled out a random book from the shelf. That book turning out to be a How-To cookbook on pastries, stomach growling softly, Five flipped the book open and began to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on some Klaus and Five bonding, but then I was thinking that there should be some more angst first :D

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is my first TUA story so if I mess anything up, could you guys let me know? Updates aren't following a schedule because I'm coming up on graduating college and work is hectic but I shall try my best to make the chapters extra long and emotional. No story of mine will ever be abandoned!


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